Reality Hurts
by Harufan9
Summary: Ruri Kobaruto is a normal girl with a normal life. She tries to ignore the mysterious disappearance of her cousin, Ruro, and prepares for her upcoming character redesign. Because she knows that right now she's just a placeholder... *******ON HIATUS! MAY BE REDONE!****


Reality Hurts.

The old woman knelt in front of the couple, her eyes closed, her wrinkled hand on the sleeping newborn in the brown haired woman's arms. The man with the mousy brown hair's face was expressionless as he waited patiently.

After a long silence, the verdict came as the old woman opened her eyes and croaked: "Your child will live." The couple exhaled in a relieved sigh, and the ancient woman stood up and exited with a deep bow.

When she was gone, the woman turned to the man. "Susumu-Sama said she will live... But for how long?"

"Come on, Ruri-chan! It's the first day of school! You said you were so excited for it!"

The girl sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily, her short grey hair messy and tangled. She yawned. "But now I'm tired!" she complained.

Her cousin glared at her. "Come on! I get my new character design today! Get up!"

She grudgingly got out of bed and started to fold up her futon.

"If you weren't such a sloppy sleeper then it wouldn't get that way!" he chided.

She stared up at him with her deep grey eyes. "Ruro, it's hard! Help me!"

He sighed and kneeled down next to her, finishing her folding and setting it into the closet.

"There. All done. Now can you get dressed on your own and meet me downstairs?" Ruro asked. She nodded, and he turned and left, looking back, his dark grey eyes concerned. The little girl just smiled widely at him.

She picked out her grey school uniform, a pleated skirt with a plain long sleeved grey shirt. She tugged on the skirt easily, then picked up the shirt. Struggling a bit, she squirmed as she attempted to pull the shirt over her head.

The door flew open as Ruro stormed in. "What's taking you so long? Why can't you put on your own clothes by yourself yet? You big baby!" he said angrily, yet while still helping her with the shirt. "There," he said, finished. He grabbed onto her hand and dragged her downstairs.

He turned to face her, suddenly solemn.

"Ruri. When I come home today, I won't look anything like I do now."

She stared into his eyes, scared and amazed.

"But Oniisama! Ruri likes Ruro!"

He smiled sadly.

"I'll still be me," he whispered.

But he knew in his heart that he wouldn't.

A tall figure stood silhouetted in the doorway.

Too tall.

"Ruro?" the quiet voice called out in fear.

A growl emanated from the creature.

||

"No..." whispered the girl.

And then all went dark as a flash of blue light washed over her.

"Oh cr*p, I'm late!" Ruri Kobaruto raced out of bed, her rumpled, slept-in school uniform flying out behind her. She grabbed her school bag and called out a quick 'Ittekimasu,' even though no one would hear it and respond with 'Itterasshai.'

Her feet pounded against the pavement in a grey-shoed flurry.

'Come on,' she thought to her self. 'I can't be late...'

She ducked into the school yard and slammed herself against her locker. She opened it and pulled out her school shoes, about to slip them on when a folded piece of paper fell out of her locker.

'I'll see to that later,' she thought, picking it up and racing to class. 'I'm about to be late!'

"BRRRINGGG!"

The bell sounded and lunch break began.

Ruri took out the slip of paper and began unfolding it and smoothing out the creases.

"Oh my God."

(watashi wa ruri ga suki desu)

(ruri wa watashi ga suki desu ka?)

She crumpled up the paper and stared at the horrifying note in her hand.

"Hey, Ruri-chan?"

Her friend Mimi Hanane stood behind her, worried about her friend's strange behaviour. "Are you okay?"

Ruri blinked then looked up at Mimi. "Yeah, sure, I'm fine. Just a little worried."

Mimi smiled, her short black hair framing her heart-shaped face with its deep midnight eyes. "I am too! What if the new character designs make us look super ugly?"

Ruri quieted and stood still. She remembered what happened with character design changes. For now you were just a place holder, a nothing, and soon you would get your real self, your real personality...

A memory struck her like lightning. A memory of the tall figure in the doorway, with it's bright blue eyes flashing before it disappeared...

Her breath caught in her throat.

"Mimi. I have to leave."

She raced away, her face pale, her body shaking with every footstep. She felt like she was going to throw up. Moaning, she felt her legs give way beneath her as if they were made from Jell-O.

"Ruri?" Mimi called after her, running towards her, out of the classroom. The 14-year old fell limp on the floor, her open eyes unseeing. "RURI!" screamed Mimi, lunging towards her desperately.

But then Ruri was in the air, being lifted up and held by strong arms.

Mimi looked up at the person. In front of her was a black-haired man with deep black eyes.

She whispered: "Please don't hurt her."

He nodded silently, and then he was gone.

Fourteen.

Fourteen.

Yon-juu.

Yon-juu.

Yon.

Yon.

Shi.

Shi.

Death.

Death.

Death-ten.

Death-ten.

Shi-juu.

"Ruri... Ruri..."

A voice was whispering...

Not whispering...

They were far away...

So far away...

Maybe they were screaming...

She just couldn't hear them...

"Let's just inject her now."

"It's too risky..."

The voices began to fade away.

"I... Worth... Do it."

The next voices were so quiet...

So quiet...

She vaugely felt her eyelids being pulled open by some thing cold, but she seemed like that was someone else's body being forced to move. She saw, in blurry black and white vision, a glass curved pane being set down on top of her. A thin mist began to rise from whatever surface she was laying on. It filled her capsule quickly, fogging up the inside, completely rendering her vision useless.

Suddenly exhausted, her eyelids closed instinctively and she felt the faint consciousness that she had grasped on to slip away, and everything, all the sensations, the thoughts, the awareness, disappeared completely.

|commence startup sequence|

A noise.

This noise was not compatible.

This sound made more sense.

It was in a language she understood.

The only language she understood.

|wake up|

She opened her eyes.

|your character design change has been terminated by -U-N-A-U-T-H-O-R-I-Z-E-D-|

Ruri laid there in shock as the glass-capsule's curved door lifted away and light flooded in. She noticed subconsciously that from the moment she had awoken, the thick steam in the capsule had disappeared. She also realized that she could see in color. But only one thought occupied her mind.

|who stopped my character design|

Her eyes widened.

What had happened to her voice?

She gasped, a sharp intake of breath that caught in her throat. Coughing from the sudden asphyxiation, she climbed out of the capsule carefully.

Her eyes met those of royal blue.

Tears streaked down her pale face.

|Ruro... You're ali-|

But the figure dissapeared too quickly, and she was left there in awful stunned silence.

_I wanted to see him for one more time…_

She got up and glanced around. Unconcious forms, mainly obscured by smoke, were lined up in rows of glass capsules. A sudden panic took over her and she began searching frantically for Mimi.

|Mimi!|She cried out, racking the rows for the familiar face.

_She will have changed… If I can stop the character design now, then I can maybe save her. I can't let her turn into Ruro…_ Her breath caught in her thought as she thought of Ruro and the monster he had become.

Finally, she identified a figure with black hair and a familiar face.

Desperate, she began banging on the control panel on the outside of the capsule.

Eventually, a button must have worked, because the glass popped open and smoke lifted away.

A mechanical voice cut through the air.

|wake up|

Ruri watched as Mimi opened her eyelids to reveal startling green eyes.

|Mimi Follow me |Ruri screeched, her new voice reaching its virtual breaking point and fading out.

|your character design change has been terminated by -U-N-A-U-T-H-O-R-I-Z-E-D-|The voice droned on.

Annoyed, Ruri grabbed Mimi's pale hand and dragged her out of the capsule.

|what is going on who are you|Mimi asked, confusion and horror in her voice.

Ruri narrowed her eyes.

|no time to explain come on|

The black haired teenager stopped suddenly. The silver haired girl turned around to see what had stopped her.

Mimi pointed.

|can we take my cousin |

There, in a glass capsule filled with yellow-white smoke, was a male figure with long black hair.

Ruri sighed.

|sure


End file.
